Could Wimbledon enforce French Open-style drinks ban? Rowdy fans could spark booze clampdown in summer sports amid years of worsening behaviour in tennis, football, cricket and golf

Sports fans are facing a major clampdown on booze this summer following years of worsening behaviour from rowdy fans. 

Britain is famed for its deep-rooted drinking culture across the globe, but its incorporation into the world of sport has often led to moments which some of us would prefer to forget. 

From tragedy chanting vile taunts at football games, to bust ups with players at Lords and spurring angry rants from disgruntled tennis players, the UK does not have the greatest track record of upholding the spirit of the game. 

Across the channel, such disregard for sporting etiquette saw crowds at the French Open banned from drinking alcohol on court in a bid to crack down on increasingly raucous behaviour.

The move, which makes it the only one of the four Grand Slams to not allow alcohol in the stands, has sparked fears that Wimbledon orgnanisers could do the same following incidents of supposedly drunk fans distracting players in recent years.

The French Open ban came after Belgian tennis player David Goffin claimed a spectator spat his chewing gum at him during his win against French player Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard. 

Goffin claimed the atmosphere at the French Open was becoming 'ridiculous', suggesting some fans were there to cause trouble.

'A lot of people are complaining, a lot of umpires feel that there is a lot of disrespect.

'This is repeated a lot in the locker room and among the ATP authorities. We're going to have to do something about that.

'I think it only happens in France. At Wimbledon, obviously, there's not that. Or in Australia either. And at the US Open, it's still rather quiet. Here [at Roland Garros], it's really an unhealthy atmosphere.

'Clearly, it goes too far, it's total disrespect. It's really too much. It's becoming football, soon there will be smoke bombs, hooligans and there will be fights in the stands.

'It's starting to become ridiculous. Some people are there more to cause trouble than to create an atmosphere.

'Someone spat out their chewing gum at me. It [the match] was getting complicated. That's why I wanted to stay calm. If I started to get angry about it, it could have destabilised me.'

World No1 and defending champion Iga Swiatek also felt crowd behaviour went too far during her pulsating with over Naomi Osaka on Wednesday.

The Pole pleaded with the crowd after her match: 'I am sorry to bring this up, I know we are playing for you. 

'This is entertainment and we are earning money because of you. But sometimes under a lot of pressure when you scream something during the rally or right before the return, it's really, really hard to be focused.'

Then on Thursday tournament director Amelie Mauresmo said that Roland Garros had decided to ban fans from bringing alcohol on to the court, as one of a number of measures to curb the bad behaviour.

Despite similar cases of rowdy fans berating players at Wimbledon, it is understood the organisers are not considering bringing in such a ban, with the London-based tournament just over a month away.

Wimbledon spectators are well-known for their good behaviour, more so than the crowds at Roland Garros, but there have still been a number of controversies in recent years.

Last year Belarusian Victoria Azarenka was booed off by the crowd after losing to Elina Svitolina and failed to approach her for a handshake, despite the Ukrainian having made clear that she would not be shaking her hand anyway. 

Azarenka later hit out at those in the stands on Court One, while Svitolina called for action by tennis authorities to deal with the increasingly ugly scenarios that are following games.

The Belarusian said: 'What should I have done? Stayed and waited? She doesn't want to shake hands with Russian, Belarusian people. I respected her decision.'

Svitolina - who was booed after not shaking hands with Sabalenka following a quarter-final defeat at the French Open the previous month - added: 'I feel like each player that loses, and there is no handshake, is getting booed.

'I think the tennis organisations have to come out with a statement that there will be no handshake between Russian/Belarusian and Ukrainian players.

'I don't know if it's maybe unclear for people. I already said multiple times that until Russian troops are out of Ukraine and we take back our territories, I'm not going to shake hands.

'I have (made a) clear statement. I don't know how I can be more clear.'

Wimbledon hasn't been averse to avoiding more rowdy spectators over the years with Nick Kyrgios's infamous rant towards a supposed 'drunk' individual one of the stories of the 2022 Wimbledon final. 

During his tense battle with Djokovic in a clash he ultimately lost in four sets, Kyrgios accused a drunk fan of interrupting him during a crucial service game.

'She's distracting me when I'm serving in a Wimbledon final,' he fumed at umpire Renauld Lichtenstein.

'There's no other bigger occasion, you didn't believe me and then she did it again. It nearly cost me the game.

'Why is she still here? She's drunk out of her mind and speaking to me in the middle of a game. What's acceptable?'

When Lichtenstein said 'nothing is acceptable', to which Kyrgios replied, 'OK, kick her out. I know exactly which one it is - the one who looks like she has had 700 drinks, bro.'

The woman Kyrgios lashed out at was later revealed as Ania Palus, 32. She said she only had one Pimms and one glass of rose during the match, adding that the heat got to her before she was temporarily ejected from Centre Court.

Palus ended up taking legal action against the Australian for defamation. 

Like tennis players, Golfers also have to put up with a fair amount of heckling from the crowds. 

One memorable incident came when US golfer Jordan Spieth was heckled by a member of the crowd after his drive on the 15th tee of the Open Championship in 2022, spurring commentators to demand the fan be removed. 

The home of English Cricket has equally seen some more disrespectful behaviour from crowds in recent years. 

Things turned ugly during the second Ashes Test at Lord's last year, following the controversial run out of England batsman Jonny Bairstow, which was labelled 'against the Spirit of Cricket' by furious fans and players.

Following the end of play, members in the famous Lords' long room began chanting 'cheat, cheat, cheat' at the Aussie players, with Australian batsman Usman Khawaja singled out on more than one occasion. 

Khawaja did not reveal the specific sledges that were aimed at him, but said the incident affected him badly.

'Some of the stuff that was coming out of the members' mouths was really disappointing, and I wasn't just going to stand by and cop it,' he said.

'So I just talked to a few of them, a few of them [were] throwing out some pretty big allegations and I just called them up on it, and they kept going.

'And if they kept going I was like, 'well, it's your membership here', so I was just pointing them out.

'But it's pretty disrespectful, to be honest. I just expect a lot better from the members.'

Two years earlier a woman was seen punching a member of security at Lord's  before she was escorted from the stands in front of a jeering crowd.

Sophie Jeacock was watching England play India on day three of the second test match at Lord's on August 14, 2023, when she and a male friend were approached by stewards who appeared to ask them to leave their seats.

Just seconds later, cricket fans watched in horror as Ms Jeacock punched a security guard in the face before taking a swipe at another member of staff.

Onlookers said staff had been trying to talk to the pair before the scuffle began at the iconic cricket ground in St John's Wood.

In the world of football, fans are well known for being rowdy to say the least and while alcohol is already banned from the stands, it doesn't detract from the apparent hooliganism that takes place elsewhere. 

Figures from earlier this year show football-related arrests stand at their highest level for nine years, with 2,264 arrests during the 2022-23 season, an increase of 66 on last year and the highest figure since 2013-14. 

The figures for last year included arrests made in England and Wales relating to overseas matches and arrests for possession of Class A drugs for the first time. 

There were 682 new football banning orders issued last season, an increase of 32 per cent compared to the 2021-22 campaign and the highest number issued since 960 in 2010-11. 

Out of the 1,624 football banning orders in force on August 1, 2023, 1,618 were given to men, and 1,133 to those aged between 18 and 34 - equivalent to 70 per cent of the total.

This year's Black Country derby between Wolves and West Brom had to be suspended for nearly 40 minutes after fighting broke out in the stands.

West Brom defender Kyle Bartley intervened to remove his daughter from the stand where the trouble flared as his team-mates anxiously messaged family members. There were unconfirmed reports that players' families had been spat at.

Scotland has also suffered outbreaks of football-related violence, with a Scottish League Two match between Stanraer and Clyde ending in chaos on February 10 as home supporters reportedly attacked their rivals with golf clubs.

In the same month there was a mass brawl between Millwall and Southampton fans at Waterloo Station, with hooded men seen leaping over ticket barriers to get involved in the punch-up as other travellers fled in fear.

Trouble also broke out just days later between Chelsea and Liverpool fans at Box Park in Croydon, where a video appeared to show two men fighting before others weighed in.